Ok, some of you may know I looked at a Subie, but it was smokin? (gasket, valve)

[Gsgirl11]

Ok so I went to look at a 06 Subaru Imprezza drove great first time, went back up there opened it up and light gray smoke came flowing out...maybe from the a/c vents? Could this be the engine? Was it overheating, we didnt want to ask the guy cause of course he just wants to sell it. It has a clean carfax, but what could this have been? Any ideas?

[Gsgirl11]

A friend emailed me that

"it could just be the a/c reacting with the humidity..it could be like condensation evaporating, thats what it sounds like. I dont think it would be overheating...but there should be a gauge on the dash to tell you the temp. I think your fine"

What do you think???

[trlhiker]

Was it coming out of the vents or the engine compartment?

[Egobop]

I think it could be condensation if the a/c blew very cold and the temperature in the car before turning it on was very hot. I just worked on a 2002 Caravan that had the same problem with the smoke and it turned out that the vent hole where the condensation from the a/c drips to the outside was clogged. A vehicle overheating is not going to smoke through the vents except maybe in some rare circumstances if the heater core is bad. If this was the case you would also smell the coolant strongly. This is an unmistakable smell. This is assuming that the smoke came through the a/c vents.

[Gsgirl11]

yea im pretty sure it came from the a/c vents, could this be a costly repair or not a problem at all if thats what it was?

[Gsgirl11]

Originally Posted by Egobop

I think it could be condensation if the a/c blew very cold and the temperature in the car before turning it on was very hot. I just worked on a 2002 Caravan that had the same problem with the smoke and it turned out that the vent hole where the condensation from the a/c drips to the outside was clogged. A vehicle overheating is not going to smoke through the vents except maybe in some rare circumstances if the heater core is bad. If this was the case you would also smell the coolant strongly. This is an unmistakable smell. This is assuming that the smoke came through the a/c vents.

It was very hot today & the a/c did blow nicely cold after a few

[texdav]

Could be the dryer going out. I had that several times when I used company cars and they always stopped cooling eventually.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Gsgirl11

yea im pretty sure it came from the a/c vents, could this be a costly repair or not a problem at all if thats what it was?

Pretty sure or positive? If it came from the vents, the only smoke Im aware that it would be would come from a heater core that was going bad. Did it smell like antifreeze in the cabin? And if the smoke wasnt coming from the vents, check under the hood. Might have an oil leak somewhere thats dripping onto the manifold and burning up, creating smoke. If the smoke is coming from the exhaust, its either a head gasket thats going bad, or bad valve stem seals, in which case Id walk away. Like, now.

[Gsgirl11]

Originally Posted by texdav

Could be the dryer going out. I had that several times when I used company cars and they always stopped cooling eventually.

so, what does this mean..is the a/c going?? I dont want to buy a problem car its an 06 $14,000 besides that seems great. Is this a problem??

[M3 Mitch]

Can you give us a clue if you are in a humid or dry climate? A certain amount of condensed water vapor coming out of A/C vents is normal in a humid climate.

If it concerns you, drive the car again but put the A/C on "Max" or "Recirc" ( I think Subie uses "Max") which should allow you to dry out the air in the cabin, the water vapor should go away.

Find yourself a good independent shop that does Subie cars, take it there for a pre-purchase inspection, if you are not capable of inspecting it mechanically yourself.

My hunch is that it's normal water vapor from the A/C. But get a pro to actually check the car, rather than rely on a hunch from some guy on the internet, who is not looking at the car...